“You mean since losing my sight? Yes, I’ve had the time.”
“Care to share your analysis?”
Jack blew out a breath. “It was what it was. I can’t change how I lived my life. I’m not sure I would if I could.”
And where was Erica, Lyle wanted to ask, when Jack was making money hand over fist and sleeping his way along the fashion runway? He bit his tongue and tried another tactic. “So the investors pulled out.”
“That’s a polite way to put it, yes.”
“When did Erica come into the picture?”
“I asked Elizabeth to call her and let her know where I was. If she needed me, I didn’t want her looking in Connecticut.”
“You didn’t ask her to come to you?”
“No.” Jack ran his hands down his jeans, taking his time to straighten the hem. “I didn’t want her to see me that way. I thought I could handle it on my own. Elizabeth thought differently. I often wonder if she’d have made the same decision if she knew she wasn’t losing her job.”
“You were upset she told Erica about your condition?”
“Furious.”
“Why?”
“Do you have any siblings, Lyle?”
“I have an older brother. He’s two years older.” Lyle couldn’t even guess what Jack was getting at.
“Erica was so much younger than me. Our father was, well, you know. He was a drunk. I was all she had and, believe me, that wasn’t nearly enough. I was supposed to take care of her. No matter what happened to me, I was supposed to take care of her.”
“Where was she when Elizabeth called her?”
Jack dropped his leg and shifted on the couch, putting his other leg atop his opposite knee. “New Jersey, I think.”
Lyle’s brows shot up along with his temper. He thought? “You weren’t sure?”
“No. Erica moved around quite a bit. She didn’t always share her whereabouts.”
“I’m sorry.” Lyle took a deep breath. He needed to change his tone of voice before Jack took offense. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean by not sharing her whereabouts. My brother and I aren’t exactly close, but if he moved, I’d know about it.”
“I’m not going talk about Erica in the book. I thought I’d made that clear.”
“You did, but I still need a little background. Your sister, who becomes your primary caregiver, can’t just appear out of thin air. Was she working? Looking for work? In a relationship?”
“Lyle, she was in New Jersey. That’s all you need to know for the book. Anything else you want to know, and I don’t think you’re asking for the book, you need to ask her yourself.”
“Because you don’t know?” Lyle asked.
“Because it’s not my story to tell.”
Chapter 30
Olivia tapped her fingers on the tabletop and narrowed her eyes at Erica’s back. “If you don’t sit down, we can’t get started.”
“I’m almost done. Hold your horses.”
Olivia glanced at her watch. It had been exactly twenty-two minutes since Jack had made her heart race when he’d told her he expected a full recap when he got back. She wouldn’t let herself wonder what he meant. She’d have nothing to tell him if Erica didn’t get her butt in the chair so they could get started. “You’re wasting both our time.”
“My brother’s not here, so I’m not keeping you from anything. Unless you’ve got another man you’re after.”
“No. I’m not after anyone.”
Erica turned around, leaned against the counter, and crossed her ankles. “That’s not true.”
“I’m not after your brother.”
“You’re not interested in Jack?”
“If I tell you, will you come over here and sit down so we can get started?”
Erica pursed her lips and folded her arms over her chest. “All right.”
“I’m interested in your brother, as is any other woman with a pulse.”
“So you admit you’re no different than the others?”
Olivia’s heart dislodged from her chest and hit the floor. “What others?”
“All the other bimbos he used to date back east.”
Olivia gripped her chest and closed her eyes. Thank God. “For a second I thought you meant he was seeing someone else in the valley.”
“Here?” Erica let out a mirthful laugh and pulled out the chair across the table from Olivia. “For some silly reason, he’s only got eyes for you.”
“Okay,” Olivia pulled a book from her bag as her heart settled back where it belonged. “I’ve brought along a few things for you to look at. The first thing I need to do is assess your current reading level.”
“I can read,” Erica said, her back straight.
“I know, but I need to know how much so I know how to proceed.” She shuffled the books around until she came to the one she wanted. She braced herself for Erica’s reaction.
“That’s a kid’s book,” Erica scoffed.
“Yes. Dr. Seuss is one of my favorites. Can you read me the first few pages, please?”
The way Erica sucked in a breath and blew it out meant Olivia had chosen the right place to start. If Jack left home when Erica was seven and still regularly attending school, she probably read at a first or second grade level.
“This is stupid. I’m not reading a kid’s book.”
“Would you like me to go first?” Olivia asked.
“Why? Don’t you know how to read?”
“Look, I can’t leave until Lyle comes back. He told me it would be a couple of hours. I figure you can keep this up for another minute or two, but sooner or later you’re going to have to let your guard down and trust me. I’m not here to make fun of you. I want to help you.”
“Because you want to sleep with my brother.”
“Because he asked me and because now that I know you need help, I’d like to help. I’m a teacher. Let me teach you.”
“If you’re a teacher, why are you working at that restaurant?”
Okay, that stung. Erica was an adult, yes, but when forced to learn something she didn’t want to learn, she wasn’t all that different from the kids. She’d do anything, say anything to deflect. “I’m not teaching at the moment.”
“Why?” Erica asked. “Are the hours too long? The kids too mean?”
Olivia sat back in her chair. Jack was right; Erica would use every trick in the book to keep Olivia from getting too close and from exposing her problems. As much as she hated to do it, she needed to pony up the truth to earn her trust. “I was suspended.”
“They can suspend a teacher? I thought only students got suspended. What’d you do? Steal chalk or something?”
Olivia gave Erica the rundown. When she finished, she linked her fingers on the table. “It’s under investigation, so I’m working at my brother’s restaurant to earn money and keep busy until the hearing.”
Erica sat in silence. Olivia was just about to pack up her things when Erica reached for the book and opened to the first page. “Don’t make fun of me,” she said.
“I would never do that.”
Erica struggled through the first few pages before she slammed the book shut. “I can’t do this. I won’t go through this again.”
“Go through what again?” Olivia asked. “Did something happen in school?”
“I was stupid!”
“Erica, you’re not stupid.” Olivia reached for the book and opened it back up to the first page. “It seemed as if you got hung up on certain letters.” She pointed at a lowercase ‘d.’ “Do you know what this letter is?”
Erica scowled at the page. “It’s either a ‘d’ or a ‘b.’ I get those two mixed up a lot.”
“Okay.” Olivia pointed at a lowercase ‘q.’ “How about this one?”
“A ‘p’?” Erica guessed.
“No. Any other guesses?”
“A ‘q’?”
“Yes. How about this one?” She pointed at a ‘t.’
“A ‘t’?”
“Yes. And this?” she asked when pointing at an ‘f.’
“F?”
“Good.” Olivia turned the page. “Can you read this page for me, please?”
Erica struggled through the next page and the next at Olivia’s prompting, confirming Olivia’s original hypothesis.
“Erica, I think you have a mild case of dyslexia. Do you know what that is?”
“I’m stupid?” she asked.
“No, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid. It means you get some of the letters mixed up. It’s fairly common.”
“Can you fix it?”
“No, but I can help you fix it. If you’ll let me.”
“If I stop mixing the letters up, will I be able to read better?”
“Yes. You’ll be able to read a lot better. The letters are the foundation of reading. If you’ve been confused about the letters, it’s no wonder you’ve struggled with reading. Did any of your teachers ever test you for dyslexia or talk to your dad about getting you extra help?”
“I don’t remember getting tested, and if they talked to my dad, he was probably too drunk to remember.”
Olivia tried hard not to let the sympathy she felt toward Erica show. The woman wouldn’t take kindly to pity. “The good news is that it’s never too late to learn.”
Erica started turning over the books in the pile Olivia had brought. She picked up a dog-eared paperback and flipped through the pages. “Did you really think I could read this?”
“I wanted to show you some of the books I think you’d enjoy.”
“You don’t know me. How do you think you know what I’d enjoy?”
“Jack told me you like to go to the movies and watch chick flicks. That book you have there, that’s like a chick flick. It’s one of my favorites.”
“Looks like you’ve read it a few times.”
“I have. Don’t you watch movies you like more than once?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I reread books I really like.”
Erica studied the cover of a faceless woman holding a baby. “What’s it about?”
Olivia swallowed the smile she wanted to let burst from her lips.
Gotcha
, she thought. “It’s about a really smart woman who wants to have a baby, but she didn’t like being smarter than the other kids growing up, so she wants the baby’s dad to be dumb to kind of even things out.”
“That sounds stupid.”
“Trust me, it’s funny.”
“So what does she do?”
“She hears this football player on TV and she thinks he sounds…like he’s had a very limited education. You know, like a jock who gets a scholarship for playing football and never goes to class but passes anyway? That’s what she thinks, so she poses as a stripper for his birthday.”
“That sounds kind of far-fetched.”
“It is, but it’s fiction, and the author, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, she’s a master. Trust me, it’s a great book.”
“So, what? She gets pregnant?”
“Yes, but she underestimates this guy. Turns out he’s not stupid at all, and when he finds out she’s pregnant, he insists they get married and he moves her to his hometown during the off-season.”
“Let me guess,” Erica said. “They fall in love?”
“Of course they fall in love, that’s what the story’s about. She gets mad at him because it turns out he graduated from college with honors. He’s mad at her for deceiving him and for making him lie to his family. Their interactions are so funny and sexy. When we get you up to speed, I’m going to let you borrow this and I know you’ll like it.”
“You think I’ll be able to read this? Sometime within the next decade?”
“I do. But you have to trust me and do your homework.”
“There’s going to be homework?”
“Yes, there’s going to be homework.”
Erica let out a big breath and looked Olivia in the eye. “Okay. I want to learn. But if I’m going to trust you and do my homework, I want you to do something for me.”
“Anything,” Olivia said, and then wondered what she’d agreed to.
“Don’t tell Lyle I can’t read.”
“I won’t. I haven’t.”
“I mean it. I don’t want him thinking I’m stupid.”
“Erica, just because you can’t read very well doesn’t mean you’re stupid. You have to believe that if you want everyone else to believe it.”
“All right, I’m not stupid, but I don’t want him to know.”
“He won’t find out from me. I promise. You can trust me, Erica. I’m not going to tell anyone.”
Erica nodded. “Okay.”
“But just so you know, I don’t think it would matter to him. He wouldn’t think you’re stupid.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not going to know.”
“He will know if I don’t start making a meal or two at home which, trust me, isn’t going to be easy.”
“I can make some stuff for you to take home. That won’t be a problem.”
“Or,” Olivia suggested, “we could use recipes to teach you how to read and make them so we’re doing both. I’ll be teaching you to read and you really will be teaching me how to cook.”
“You don’t know how to cook? At all?”
Olivia shrugged. “Some. It’s not my favorite thing in the world to do.”
“I guess we’ve both got our work cut out for us.”
Olivia smiled. “I guess we do.”
Chapter 31